The Journey Baptist Church is on the move New food pantry to open in city, second church planned in Barrington

Thursday

Jan 10, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By John Nolanjnolan@fosters.com

ROCHESTER — The Journey Baptist Church is on the move. By the end of January, it plans to have established a new facility — Joseph’s Storehouse — to complement the work of Gerry’s Food Pantry, and in February, the church hopes to close on a building on Route 125 in Barrington, thus opening up another worship location.

The Journey Church, which started in 2003 as an offshoot of Granite State Baptist Church, outgrew its church at 124 Milton Road, and for the past few years, has rented a large, well-appointed space nearby, at 7 Amarosa Drive, in a factory building originally constructed by Cabletron. Two services are held there every Sunday, with a total of around 450-500 people now attending, each week.

The Storehouse, which is officially registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, will initially open with a food pantry at 124 Milton Road, which is the current youth center of The Journey Baptist Church.

“The pantry is the start of a bigger dream,” said Pastor Rob Willis. “It’s the first step. There’s spiritual assistance, educational assistance, resume writing... we are just starting. We are a church in motion.”

The congregation of Journey Church is not new to the field of collecting food and distributing it to the needy. For the past several years, while putting on the free fireworks display and entertainment, on July 3 at the fairground, the church has encouraged attendees to contribute food as they come in the gates. With the help of Rochester Truck, this food drive bounty has then been conveyed to Gerry’s Pantry.

In addition, for the last five years, the congregation of the church has given a Christmas offering, and this money has been used throughout the year to help the needy with food, gas and more.

With the establishment of a 501(c)(3), the general public can now give tax-deductible donations to assist the church’s charity work, and it will also be eligible for grants.

“We will complement Gerry’s,” said Pastor Willis’s assistant, Lisa Ball. “Single parent may be working, and find Gerry’s is closed when they get out. If they have a child, they can get $40 in food stamps per week, but that is not sufficient, and there are things you can’t buy, like laundry soap. You can be poor and dirty.”

She also thinks that homeless people are currently struggling.

“There are people living in the Pines and behind Market Basket. We have families on the street. It breaks my heart,” said Ball.

She surmises that when Joseph’s Storehouse opens around the end of January, it will be on days when Gerry’s is closed. Tuesdays and Thursdays, perhaps, and Saturday mornings.

For more information on how you give or donate, contact Lisa Ball, the secretary of the Storehouse, at lisab@thejourneynh.com. Progress on Joseph’s Storehouse can be followed online at www.jspantry.org.

The website explains that the name and idea are actually taken from the Bible.

He was the Joseph who ascended to power through some God-given dreams, and he became second in command in Egypt at that time, second only to Pharaoh himself.

Because God had warned Joseph through these dreams of a massive famine a-coming, Joseph was able, as a national leader, to prepare Egypt for this famine through a great strategy of building storehouses during times of plenty. Food was stored up, so that when the famine came, rather than starve, Egypt survived and actually fed other nations. (Genesis 41:56-57)

Barrington location

Pastor Willis said that The Journey Baptist Church is currently under contract to purchase the building that was used, until recently, by the Restoration Church on Route 125, near the Route 9 junction. The Restoration Church congregation now uses just its Dover location.

“We hope to close (complete the purchase agreement) in February,” said Pastor Willis. The Journey Church is optimistic it can negotiate a lease termination agreement with its Amarosa Drive owner, and the hold services for up to 75 people each time at its Milton Road location, and up to 300 people per service at its new Barrington church.

The Milton Road Church will be renovated, and significant work is also planned for the Barrington facility.

“We have an aggressive time line, and we certainly hope to be in (to Barrington) by summer,” said the pastor.

Ball also wants to remind the greater Rochester community that the Journey Baptist Church will once again put on the Night Before the Fourth event at the fairground. One of the fundraisers for this will be on May 3 with a ham and bean supper at American Legion Post 7 on Eastern Avenue.

The Journey Church has, in recent years, developed close ties with the veteran community in the city.

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